


Machine

by thefairyknight



Series: Avengers Short Fics [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crying, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 08:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3930097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefairyknight/pseuds/thefairyknight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Stop it,” Wanda hisses, with a fervor that draws all of the attention in the room to her. Her fists are clenched, and she is glaring at their team leader. “Stop calling him a machine. He is a person, the same as anyone else here.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Machine

“Stop it,” Wanda hisses, with a fervor that draws all of the attention in the room to her. Her fists are clenched, and she is glaring at their team leader. “Stop calling him a _machine._ He is a person, the same as anyone else here.”

The person in question is currently hovering in the middle of the room, a neutral fixed onto his face.

For a moment, awkward uncertainty fills up the room. Hesitation. A little bit of surprise.

Steve opens his mouth, but Sam beats him to the punch.

“You know, she’s right,” he says. “He’s as much a part of the team as anybody else. It’s not cool.”

“I didn’t mean any insult,” Steve replies.

Wanda snorts.

“No, you mean to diminish or belittle his personhood, but that’s not _insulting_ , of course not.”

“Hey,” Rhodey interjects, while Natasha remains silent, seemingly content to watch the exchange from a far corner of the room. “It’s not like being a machine, or part machine, or something is mutually exclusive with being a person. He’s just not _human.”_

“I am not,” the Vision agrees, placidly, though there is an uncommon tension around his eyes.

“When you say something is a machine, you imply it is just a tool for completing tasks,” Wanda insists. “If he wants to make a distinction, there are better words. Android. Synthoid. Synthetic lifeform. Whatever. What do you prefer, Vision?”

“All of them would serve, but I suppose ‘android’ would be the most easily recognized by the general public,” Vision replies.

“Did I… offend you, Vision?” Steve wonders.

There’s another stretch of awkward silence. Sam would say that the Vision was mulling over his answer, ordinarily, but this time it almost seems more like he just doesn’t _want_ to answer at all.

“I prefer not to be referred to as a tool,” Vision finally says. “I am self-aware, and possessed of independent will.”

“Obviously you are,” Sam says. “It doesn’t matter to us what you’re made of. Right?”

“Not in the least,” Wanda agrees.

“Nope,” Rhodey says.

“I’ve met too many flesh and blood assholes in my life to think it matters when a nice guy is made of vibranium,” Natasha volunteers.

“I’m sorry,” Steve says. “I really am. I wasn’t thinking, Vision. I hope you can forgive me.”

Vision nods.

“Of course,” he says, readily, but that strain around his eyes seems even more pronounced, and there’s a weird sheen to them. “If you will excuse me, I have something I must attend to. In the other room.”

Without waiting for an answer, he glides upwards, and then phases through the roof of the training center.

“Where… what business?” Steve wonders, utterly bewildered at the sudden exit.

“Leave him be,” Wanda instructs.

If Sam didn’t know any better, he’d guess that their ‘android’ teammate just beat a hasty exit so that…

Well, if he was human, Sam would think that he just left so no one would see him _cry._

But androids can’t cry.

Right?


End file.
